Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Retired Supreme Court John Paul Stevens
wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times. On that single point, he is correct.

He goes on the regurgitate most of the (P)regressive gun grabbing talking
points. Of course, the NRA takes a shot. For me, this takes him from a scholarly
student of the law to a hack and besmirches whatever legacy he had heretofore.

There is a mechanism in the Constitution
to repeal amendments. It has been used once, to repeal prohibition. The bar, as it should be, is high.

To those who want to restrict or
eliminate firearms, go for repeal. Convince the majority of the citizens your
cause is just. Let the rule of law prevail. This is the honest approach, rather
than your current efforts of death by a thousand cuts.

You will be vigorously fought but your
opponents will respect your honest approach. In the unlikely event you prevail,
the firearm owners, who are on the whole peaceable and respecters of the law,
will grudgingly accept the outcome, IMO.

Monday, March 26, 2018

Think it is a 56 or 57 President. The 58's had twin headlights. Located in a storage area where I have a locker. Cell phone photos, sorry for the size.

Colorado once required safety inspections every six months. The one near the driver side A pillar reads 1992. The car probably spent most of it's life inside. I didn't notice it last month when I was there.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

The on-site property manager is one of
the hardest working people I know and I appreciate her efforts in keeping the
place attractive. She does have a huge temper and sometimes goes over the top
as is the case with the community BBQ grill.

She has been divorced three times. Is
that the result of her temper?

Is her temper the result of being
divorced three times? I’m not brave
enough to find out.That said, she is
nice to see in the summer with her shorts and skimpy tops!

Friday, March 23, 2018

Taking some time off working. I have an adult
granddaughter in Denver. Will pick her up Thursday and we will drive to
Spartanburg, S.C. to spend Easter with her mother, my youngest son, and all the
kids still living at home.

Looking forward to the drive. She is a
feisty, opinionated,take no prisoners
young woman. She is her mother’s daughter. As I understand, her savage
Chihuahua will accompany us. Plus, she is an excellent driver.

On the downer side, another first cousin
is fighting cancer. At one time I had 50+ first cousins. One was killed by a
drunk driver. All the other deaths have been cancer related. I don’t keep score
but maybe 50% have come down with it, predominately female, and about half of
those are gone. Ghastly plague!

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

My father, Robert T (Bob) White died this day in 1985 in his sleep. Over the years the pain has dulled but never gone completely away. Probable cause of death? We believe congestive heart failure brought on by untreated sleep apenia.He was born in his grandmother's home in Sunbeam, Moffat County, CO. That caused him some good nature teasing when he was in the Army/Army Air Corps in WWII, especially when his home of record was Skull Creek, CO.Flat out the best horseman I've ever seen, his only competition was his elder brother.

My biggest regret, or loss, is my sons weren't able to grow up around him.

He sent me a letter when I was in Germany in the Army threatening to disown me if I volunteered for Vietnam. His point, "I fought in a damned Asian war. I didn't raise a son to fight in one". As it was, the Army only accepted USAREUR volunteers if they were fluent in French. I wasn't.Speaking of languages he had a gift. He was completely fluent in Hindustani as spoken in the Assam area and was passable in Mexican and Dine (Navajo).His shooting skills were outstanding. I was a good shot, won several competitions as a Junior NRA member, and came within two rounds of maxing qualification at Ft. Leonard Wood. At the range killing paper I beat him every time (which pissed him off - he was not a gracious loser). Hunting, putting meat on the table, I was wasting ammo while he didn't miss. That is when he got his back (and I'm not a gracious loser either).We went in together on a Piper J4 which we both learned to fly. Later he owned a C-182. The man could fly but was damn careless and I called him on it. Those times weren't especially pleasant.

His death was especially hard on my sister who is much younger.

He gave me a good example of what a man should be and it has served me well. I hope my sons will say the same when I pass.

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Elephants stomp and ants tremble or so it seems. The courier biz is going through some changes and clients are lost and gained. My employer is losing some routes including the bulk of mine. I'm offered other routes but don't like them. Hence, I'm taking a self imposed furlough. Financially I'm fine other than facing some large dental bills. Then again, I'm kind of liking the Kentucky meth head look.This weekend I worked because they didn't have anyone. Flu has hit the company hard. Sort of riding for the brand. The route involves driving to Estes Park, home of badly driven Subarus and SUVs, plus Boulder and Denver. Not something I enjoy. "Give me room, lots of room and starry skies above...."One thing I've learned in life is this. The only constant is change.So we'll see how this plays out.

Friday, March 16, 2018

Escaping the norm, thankfully, is part of
President Trump’s way of operating, IMO. Yeah, WSF is going off on the
political climate in Washington, D.C., of which he knows nothing but what he
reads. You have been warned.

You read about the “turmoil” in the White
House staff. Cabinet members fired. Advisors come and go. All this is very
upsetting to the political establishment and the deep state. They can’t grasp
he isn’t one of them and never will be. They are not going to mold him into one
of them and, from all appearances; he doesn’t give a shit that they are upset.
I think this is a good thing.

Looking in from way outside, I see the
overall culture in D.C. is, “Go along to get along, and we will all make money”.
Few leave D.C. poorer than they arrived, don’t you agree? President Trump isn’t
one of them. I doubt he is doing anything but losing much of his wealth by
serving.

I find him to be completely sincere in
what he says and how he goes about doing it. So refreshing to hear words not focus
group tested, polished, and not read off a teleprompter. His predecessor
couldn’t string three coherent impromptu sentences together without rehearsals
or a teleprompter.

Those of us in the private sector who
have been fortunate to work for kick ass entrepreneurs know they don’t suffer
fools and don’t let problem situations fester. It is their way or the highway
until, and unless, you have proven to them that your judgment has merit. They
put their asses on the line daily and so should you. It isn’t a comfortable environment.
The “in crowd” hates being in this
position, IMO. My response? Tough shit! Grow a set.

I read Dick Morris daily. He isn’t always
right but generally has something thought provoking. Plus, he is a far better
writer than me. He had an interesting take on this subject today.

Guess I’m naïve. We have legal marijuana
here. The only real impact I’ve noticed is neighboring state law enforcement is
quick to pull over vehicles with Colorado plates for any kind of traffic
violation, some real, and then want to do a search.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Monday, March 12, 2018

“The world is my urinal” caught me this
morning. The place I stopped was near a scene of recent criminal activity and
two Laramie, WY County Deputies had the place staked out. Midway through relieving
myself, got lit up. After ten embarrassing
minutes, I was on my way ten miles up the road to finish the job.

Cheyenne is
the county seat of Laramie County. Laramie is the county seat of Albany County,
just to confuse the rest of the world.

At my first stop the entry is the
emergency room entrance and the path to the lab goes by the various treatment
rooms. Pacing the hall was a county deputy, perhaps the most intimidating
policeman I’ve ever encountered. Being on the large size and a dirty white boy,
I am seldom even aware of other men. This deputy looked like he stepped out of
a WWE ring. In addition, he wasn’t in a good mood.

“Good morning, officer”, I said.

“Morning, how are you?, he replied in a tone of voice that made it
clear he was in no mood for chit chat.

“Fine, thank you”, I replied as I
scuttled down the hall, thankful I wasn’t the critter in the treatment room he
was guarding.

For weeks I’ve been writing up loose
fender linings on my daily driver log. Pulling into the airfreight side of DIA
I heard a sudden noise. Yeah, you guessed it.

Note the snow tire, the one thing my
employer spends top dollar to equip the fleet. Other than oil changes and wiper
blades, “deferred” is the maintenance mantra.

Tired of it all, I solved the problem
with a box cutter and some inspired profanity.

My entry on the daily log sheet included,

“Can’t guarantee how long the fenders
will stay in place without the support of the fender liners”.

Hope your Monday was better than mine. On
a positive note, the weather was grand and the number of stupid driver
encountered were few.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

My favorite part of school was the
monthly assembly where all types of outside presenters would put on a show for
the students. These presenters evidently traveled a circuit. Wondering if this
is still done, checked Google and found this.

I attended nine different schools, some
twice, 1st grade to high school. These were rural schools, one with
just nine students. Not every school had assemblies. Some that I remember.

Patsy Montana and her husband doing trick
roping.

A man demonstrating liquid nitrogen.

Archers, including a talk on the use of
archers in the Korean War. What today would be called special ops.

A weight lifting demonstration. While of
great interest to us wrestlers, he geared his presentation to both sexes. That
was appreciated by several future Olympic skiers, this being in Ski Town USA.

A man putting on a Tesla demonstration.

There were many others. In an era when
the internet was called Encyclopedia, we students were exposed to things we
probably would never know. Isn’t that the purpose of education?

A kid one year behind me became a rocket
scientist. He built, as a junior, a three stage rocket. His senior year his
parents were able to take him to White Sands, N.M. where he was able to fly it.
It worked. While I never asked, I’m sure the assemblies had something to do
with his interests.

Surely the programs have evolved over the
years and been infected with SJW crap but I’m happy to see them continue.

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

I wonder how many police officers, fire
fighters, and EMT personnel have an overwhelming urge to slap the stupid out of
drivers.

This morning around 0315 on WCR 17 just
south of US 34, several emergency vehicles were staged near the railroad
tracks. The jurisdiction was probably Johnstown, CO.

The weather was clear with a strong wind.
No vision impairments – shaping up to be a 50 mile visibility Colorado day.
Traffic at that hour is none to just a few cars. The Great Western Railroad
wasn’t operating any trains.

How the hell can someone get in a traffic
accident in those conditions? Drunk? Maybe just stupid?

Makes me shake my jowls and pity the
emergency personnel that had to deal with the mess. If I were one, I would be
tempted to bitch slap the stupid out of the driver.

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Once again the uproar about “gun control”
is at a fever pitch. There are some changes I would like to see, starting with
a dose of honesty.

The gun grabbers are terrified by firearms and
want them confiscated but lack the courage to come out and say it. Instead,
they use death by a thousand cuts. I actually admire Sen. Feinstein for being
upfront.

If you asked
someone to give a detailed history of the geology of wherever you are, most
people would have the honesty to say "I don't know" because most
people don't study the details of geology.

But the same people, with the same level of knowledge of guns as they have of
geology, will lecture you all day long about guns.

Something that can be done fairly easily.

HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act,
sets the standard for protecting sensitive patient data. Any company that deals
with protected health information (PHI) must ensure that all the required
physical, network, and process security measures are in place and followed.

Modify portions of this act to let health professionals
report people they deem mentally unstable to a review by the judicial system.
As in, if they are bat shit crazy, disarm them. Potential for abuse? Damn
right, but that can be addressed.

Next, vigorously enforce the laws we already have on the
books! Duh.

Last, be grateful for what we have received, the
Constitution, and strive to preserve and protect it.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Another civil war in the United
States?Much has been written recently,
including insightful posting by bloggers on my sidebar as to the possibilities.
In the usual WSF fashion, some incomplete, often half baked thoughts.

That is the future of
war—not fighting but famine, not the slaying of men but the bankruptcy of
nations and the break-up of the whole social organization.” “Amateurs study tactics,” goes an old saying, “armchair
generals study strategy, but professionals study logistics [obtaining and moving supplies].”

What are the two crucial needs of any
group, anywhere? Food and water.

Shelter
can be improvised. Medicine will extend life but not sustain life. Feet have
been a means of transportation for some 300,000 years depending on what
anthropologist you wish to quote. At no time did anyone survive without food
and water.

The last Presidential election was, to
me, a stark reminder of how this country is divided. Shillary carried the dense
urban areas, Trump, the rest of the country. In terms of total numbers, Shillary
got more votes. Thanks to the Electoral College, the left coast and the
northeast didn’t get to impose their views on the rest of the country. Yeah,
yeah, that is simplistic, but I believe accurate, and this is my soapbox.

Say it blows up, most likely the urban
areas against the rural areas. Who controls the source of much of the water and
nearly all the food? Obviously, the rural areas. The urban area will need to
use force to secure the necessities, and the means to transport the
necessities. Roads, railroads, water works, and electrical generation sources
will be the critical logistic focus. They will need armed and trained people to
secure them. Where do they get them?

From Wikipedia.

The primary form of
military training is recruit training, which makes use of various conditioning
techniques to resocializetrainees into the military system, ensure that they will obey
all orders without hesitation, and teach basic military skills

Gangbangers and anarchists? This assumes
the military opts out, or enough to negate their impact. Police? Not ready for prime time IMO.

OK, WSF, where do the rural areas get
militia?

Let us say you need a rallying point and
a rudiment command structure. Name me a rural city that doesn’t have an
American Legion Post or a VFW Hall. Many will be old and fat, but they are a
pool of training, experience, and motivation that the urban areas cannot match.
Thanks to the 2nd Amendment, the rural areas are full of firearms,
ammunition, and people who regularly use them.

If we have a civil war, it won’t be long
before the urban areas experience belly flapping. Want an example? General
Sherman’s march through Georgia, and later, Winter Campaigns against the Plains
Indians.

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About Me

Semi retired road warrior, car salesman, occasional repo man. Father of three fine sons. Once a Blue Dog Democrat. Once a soldier; once a pilot. Rolling along life's highway proving there is no fool like an old fool.